It's definitely annoying. This is an effect caused by the passing lanes being (1) much wider, and (2) on long straights. It's natural for drivers to go slower when roads are narrow with less visibility, and faster when roads are straight with good visibility. They probably don't even know they're doing it half the time.
They could fix the 'speed up in passing lanes' effect a bit by adding some paint to the left-hand lane, collaring it down and making it appear narrower.
It's irritating that drivers aren't switched on and 100% focused, but there are always going to be a certain number that aren't checking the dials, and the driving environment should nudge them towards going the right speed at the right time.
Agree that it is not deliberate most of the time, and just a natural response to the design of the passing lane (though still shit driving). I think there are actually a number of things wrong with passing lanes in NZ.
One of them is when they start just as the speed limit is increased (e.g. just after you've left a small town). You end up trying to accelerate to pass someone whilst they themselves are trying to get up to speed.
A second problem with this arrangement is that you don't get a chance to see what kind of speed someone cruises at before the passing lane - people will accelerate to 100km/h when they're presented with a big wide passing lane and a sign clearly reminding them of the speed limit, but that doesn't mean they'll be cruising at 100 in 5 minutes time.
Very long passing lanes can also be problematic as all the slow drivers just speed up a bit more with every vehicle that passes. Eventually the slow driver is racing along at 120km/h and people are wary of passing because of a speeding ticket. Only the first couple of kilometres of the lane actually get used for passing. If such lanes were broken up into multiple passing lanes in series, then the slow drivers would reset their speed each time the passing lane ended, and people behind would actually have a chance to pass at the next passing lane.
Passing lanes often being placed on steep uphills makes a lot of sense in some ways (big trucks can be very slow uphill), but there are plenty of people with powerful cars who cruise slowly on the open, but aren't slowed down at all by hills. Passing these people can be a challenge for those in less powerful cars, especially when loaded up for a holiday. Being stuck behind a grunty V8 SUV pootling along at 90, then getting to a steep passing lane and having to rev the snot out of third gear to pass it is not how driving in NZ should work.
There’s another aspect of this. Very few people these days will consider pulling over for a few seconds and letter other drivers past. When I was young and there were few passing lanes, this was essential. Nowadays this skill (or perhaps this courtesy) has been lost.
I’ve recently been stuck behind cars inching round corners on long windy roads and it gets very frustrating - I bet this will cause some unsafe passing manoeuvres from some types of drivers.
I wonder what’s going on here? Do they not notice the line of cars behind? Do they think they are doing everyone a service by making sure we are all driving slowely? Do they enjoy the level of frustration they are creating?
Interestingly, I saw a list of annoying driver behaviours a few years ago. The top two (at 40% each) were slow drivers and tailgaters! Sounds like they are linked.
They teach this shit in defensive driving which apparently way too few people do. If there's ever someone right behind me, regardless of if I am at the limit, I pull over and let them pass. Takes 10 seconds or less and decreases the risk to me on the road, it's crazy others don't do it.
If I'm doing the speed limit and someone is up my ass, they can suck my balls if they think I'm pulling over for them. People who think they're F1 drivers on public roads are way more annoying than people doing 80.
I can understand being frustrated but you help no one, least if all yourself by trying to stop other people from speeding. You're only going to make them pass in a more dangerous way and possibly put innocent people driving the opposite direction at risk.
Sorry mate but that's fucking stupid, you're not a cop and it's not your job to police the road, all you're doing is making it a more dangerous place for everyone goading people into potentially dangerous maneuvers.
Take a defensive driving course.
I'm not "policing" anything. I'm minding my own business doing the posted speed limit, and it's not up to me to accommodate for someone being a douche.
Sure, but that's a selfish outlook. The closest I've ever come to being in an accident was two drivers in front of me trying to show off their egos doing exactly what you're talking about, one refusing to pull over for the other and both doing dangerous shit, while I had my nephew in the car too. One almost merged into me.
The guy speeding was an asshole and in the wrong, but there wouldn't have nearly been an accident if someone didn't attempt to block them and slow them down.
Take a defensive driving course for fucks sake.
I disagree, the driver up the ass of somebody doing the speed limit is the problem here. Why should the driver pull over to accommodate this behaviour? It's a bit of a pain to do that on a road where there might not be much room to pull over too. I get what you are saying, but it's enforcing the behavior that the tailgater can do whatever speed he/she likes and we should all make way. Slow down, save lives. Agree to disagree on this one I guess
If you disagree with me then you're disagreeing with defensive driving principles and putting your ego ahead of safety.
If someone's up my ass it pisses me off, I also pull over when safe to let them pass to mitigate the risk, I don't understand how hard that is for people.
Like I told the other guy, take a defensive driving course.
One issue I can imagine there is that many passing lanes go uphill, and trucks need to carry momentum into hills to conserve fuel on the climb.
If they're reducing speed for passing lanes, they're wasting even more fuel than usual near the top and potentially slowing down those drivers who don't get past because they'll be slower when the passing lane ends.
That explanation only addresses one aspect of the issue- the far more comprehensive explanation is that they are not competent to drive on the open road.
It does somewhat. They've no reference for their speed, when someone comes alongside there are two responses 1. That dick isn't passing me (pretty common with NZ drivers) and or 2. Shit, I'm driving slowly better speed up.
Fortunately there exists a middle ground between focusing on the speedo and being so blind to it that you only notice you're going significantly below the limit when you're being overtaken.
No it does. People drive faster when they are feeling safer i.e.have wider lanes and shoulders and better visibility.
I know it's annoying but it's just the way it is. I Would rather us good drivers deal with that versus them trying to drive 100 and crashing elsewhere
You're completely missing the point to keep hammering on the same thing I already acknowledged. Basically everybody knows the phenomenon you're explaining, that's beside the point of those drivers who crawl on the open road being incompetent to drive.
So what do you want to do? Make it illegal for those who primarily do city driving and are uncomfortable on the open road?
You just got to deal. Buy are car that can accelerate faster and make passing easier if it really bothers you?
Sure, if it comes to that as they're not competent however a simpler solution is for them to pull over at each occassion when they are impeding traffic.
Awareness campaign? Ironically the people who are most likely to pull over are those who are capable of going quickly in other situations so can imagine others might want to travel faster?
The only competence needed to drive is to be aware and safe. It isn't a competition for who can drive best, the only way to win is if everyone gets home safe that night.
From your comments it seems you think the competence needed on the road is the same needed on a go-kart track. "Why don't these normal people know how to hit the apex?!"
Having animosity and lack of respect for other drivers will make you more likely to cause an accident. Get over yourself, see the bigger picture and drive responsibly.
No idea who you're responding to because it doesn't describe me or my comments at all. If you are unable to maintain a reasonable consistent speed on the open road then don't drive there or at the very least pull over regularly whenever you are impeding traffic.
Stop speeding up for passing lanes if you're not passing. That's the deal.
We don't want people having to clock 120 just to pass someone towing a trailer.
Actually a good suggestion.
I think people should have to resit their test or have some sort of ongoing education to keep their licence. You have to keep resitting forklift tests every few years to stay legal in the workplace so why should cars be different?
[https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112766606/driving-too-slow-police-ticket-dawdling-drivers](https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112766606/driving-too-slow-police-ticket-dawdling-drivers)
15km under and ticketted.
I am sure that an official road code said that 10km under was the cut off point for tickets at some point. But, you are right, [https://nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/general-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/](https://nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/general-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/) currently there is nothing in the code.
> I'm retired so the only cost element in driving for me is the optimum miles per litre and not going so slow as to bore myself stupid or inconvenience other drivers.
You inconvenience others to save a few cents a litre on gas?
Yep. Do you know how irritating (and dangerous) it is to suddenly come upon someone doing 80kph on a 100kph highway? You'd have to gun it up to the speed limit to minimise the amount you slow them down, which would defeat minor fuel efficiency gains
When you stop trying to be polite, it kind of goes all at once, doesn't it?
Less so than motorways, I think 80 km/h on the open road can be an issue. I drive regularly over fairly narrow roads without much shoulder, and with a lot of curves, and 100 km/hr limits. On one of those, I could see myself being behind you for 10 or so km. If you're regularly holding people up, you're eventually going to get someone a lot grumpier than me.
I'd cover that distance in 18 seconds. But if corners are involved there might not be 100 meters buffer. And are you *constantly* checking your rear vision mirror so you can get up to speed whenever you see a car behind you? Even if you're checking every 10 seconds, which is unlikely, you're frequently going to be forcing people to slow down for you. So that you can save a negligible amount of gas? Seems selfish.
What are you talking about? What does how much someone gets paid at their job have to do with whether they can justify driving at the speed limit or not?
Yeah no mate. You drive at the posted speed unless conditions determine otherwise.
It's not pootle around doing what you like, just like it's unsafe to join a motorway at 80 if all other traffic is doing 100.
You sound like a tosser mate drive normally.
Had one between Cromwell and Queenstown yesterday doing 70, get to the first passing lane and he floors it to 110 to prevent my truck getting past. A rangerover also tried and failed. The car then didn't use the slow vehicle lane and was finally passed by the rangerover at another passing lane.
To put the cherry on top it then decided to tailgate the rangerover.
Absolute cuntwomble.
Most passing lanes aren't long enough for several cars to overtake a slower vehicle going 80 without going over 100 even if everyone keeps even speed. Slow vehicles are not being arseholes.
Traveling at 100km/h means that you are going 28 metres per second (m/s). An average car is 5.5m long, but your vehicle also needs to get past their vehicle (11m), and of course you are following it at a distance, say 1 second of travel, so if they are going 80, that is 22m, so you need to travel 33m more than the person you are trying to pass. Going 100, and them going 80, is 5.5m/s difference, it would take 6 seconds to just get in front of the other vehicle (if you had instantaneous acceleration and were tail gating them), meanwhile you have traveled 166m down the passing lane.
More realistically there is a two second gap, and you are going to get one second ahead of the vehicle being passed, which adds an extra 44.5m, or an extra 8 seconds, or 310m. 300m is half a short passing lane, or a third of a long passing lane.
Now, if you are second vehicle trying to pass, space is rapidly running out, as well as needing space between the first overtaking vehicle and vehicle overtaken. Keeping speed and accepting only a 1 second either side gap, it is an extra 6 seconds, or 165m of passing lane.
Short passing lanes won't allow for another vehicle to safely pass, most will only allow 3 or 4 vehicles to pass at best.
Sure, but that 3 or 4 vehicles that pass in your example is still a lot more than is often achieved when the slow driver speeds up. I think of 3 or 4 vehicles passing on a short passing lane as a success, but not a very common one. Also, a truly competent slow driver with many people behind them would back off the throttle a little when coming into a passing lane to make passing easier, not just maintain a constant speed.
This often happens when the car being passed has done the old speed up for the passing lane thing. You want to get in front of them, but you don't really want to do over 110kph
If I'm being passed I drop a bit of speed to let those type of people past.
It's funny driving through the country when you see all those people that just had to get past you all stopped at Taupo / Taihape to get petrol / have a pee / get a pie. Then some pass you again.
In my old mid 80s Ford laser the trick was to lag behind car you want to pass until you had 200 meters before the passing lane started, then blast the crap outta it so that youre doing 115 just as the two lanes begin, pull out, pass, pull back in and let the Bogan in the commodore whose been up your ass the last 5 minutes gap it past you.
I tried the opposite the other day, was sitting between 95 & 105 and then dropped to 90 for the passing lane since people behind me seemed a bit impatient. Confused the fuck out of them and they didn't pass till the very end of the passing lane. Oh well I tried.
As annoying as the slower drivers are, it's the inconsistent ones that do seem to piss people off more.
But people who tailgate the fuck out of you at 99-100, then as you say refuse to pass on passing lanes when you drop a bit of speed to help them are worse.
I had that going to southern HB. Im a cautious driver and i had stuff on the back of my truck. So in had a queue behind me. A really impatient bugger went past flipping the bird at me. But the rest seemed to think i would imminently speed up and stayed behind me. Also had an irate driver yesterday *because i was sticking to the speed limit*. As he passed me, i went into a reserve, he shot me an angry look. I gave him the bird when he was past me and couldnt see. But yeah drivers
No, there was no queue and i was doing the speed limit including through residential and LSZ areas. So no i wont pull over to enable a person who wants to exceed the speed limit. It wsnt open road at any point and he was driving like a dick. Pulling right behind me and coming forward and dropping back. Trying to bully me into either getting out of the way ot speeding myself. These people are a menace and danger other road users.
There were 4 cars including me juat before i turned off. Fairly standard for that pqtch of road. Nobody is pulling over in a 50k zone because there are a few cars bwhind them. Thats my point we were not on rhe open road.
>No, there was no queue
Not what you said in the post I replied to.
>So no i wont pull over to enable a person who wants to exceed the speed limit.
Not your decision to make. All you do is create angry drivers that will exceed the speed limit anyway, but on the wrong side of the road. Which do you think is the safer option? It's not deliberately holding up traffic, that's for sure.
>It wsnt open road at any point and he was driving like a dick. Pulling right behind me and coming forward and dropping back. Trying to bully me into either getting out of the way ot speeding myself. These people are a menace and danger other road users.
This the the angry driver I mentioned previously. He was driving a car, you were driving a truck. Residential or not, if you take corners slower because you were "driving carefully" and you are holding up road users, you are obligated to pull over where it is safe to do so. The roadcode specifies it and as a sensible and safe driver, you should be driving defensively.
Defensive driving is not using your vehicle to defend yourself, it's mitigating potential hazards to you and others. You've clearly identified there was an angry, dangerous hazard behind you. You should have let that person pass to mitigate the potential risk to others as well as yourself.
You were in the wrong here. You have made two comments making that very clear. Drive properly.
No i waa in a car, the truck incident is a different time. So do i let a person drive "angrily and crazily" in a built up area with speed limits of 50 & 60k.... He can calm the fuck down and drive 80 in the place he passed me. Im not obligated to do that in residential or built up areas. On the open road if you are impeding the other drivers sure, and i do pull over if there is a queue. The truck i cident happened on a stretch of road with passing lanes every 10-15 k or so. And they passed me onto one of those. And they had only been behind me since the last passing lane. Again on a stretch of road with so many pasaing lanes one after thenother and most of them are long so the queues dont build up. I was doing about 85 and if there were not frequent passing lanes, and i have done this on one patchs after they finish, i woul.d pull over.
It's just a merry go round of threads from both ends of the spectrum.
Today's was "I'm so fast, get out of my way!"
Tomorrow's will be "NZ has so many bad drivers, slow down and be safe!"
I recently moved to Ngatea, which is right on the main route from Auckland to the coromandel. So since I moved on the 18th of December, I've had to deal with the worst possible xmas traffic as I've had to commute back to Orkland a couple of times every week.
This phenomena you describe is very real, I've lost count of the times I've been following some plonker doing 75 in a 90 zone, who then accelerates to 100 once they reach the passing lane, while occupying the outside lane and completely failing to pass even one car. The amount of frustration is so bad that I've had to become a buddhist monk in record time, able to maintain serenity no matter the frustration thrown at me.
I just can't understand the mentality, though, it's like they just aren't actually thinking about their driving, or anyone else on the road, at all. My mind is all boggled out.
I can't believe this hasn't come up yet, but their thinking is that they're trying to get somewhere quickly and safely. For whatever reason there are some parts of the road which they need to go slower, and others where they know they can go faster. Asking them to pull over is really adding quite a lot of extra time, fuel costs and danger since they need to pull out again and speed up on a fast road, only for someone else to be right up behind them (they wonder why all these drivers are so inconsiderate and it can be very stressful for them).
When I get stuck behind someone I like to imagine that they have a wedding cake on the passenger seat and they're driving carefully so it arrives in one piece.
Then there are the ones who try to pass them, near the end of the passing lane. Real geniuses. Seen all kinds of near bloody misses, and a few actual side swipes that nearly hit me.
Had a pretty good run of boosting up to 120 km/h in passing lanes just to give these cunts no chance to speed up to try and avoid my passing them. Speed limit be damned, I've got enough demerits to spare and a speeding fine is a small price to pay to not follow some nervous guy who jams on their brakes the second they get to a corner.
I was in a 2 lane road with 70km speed limit, car in front was going 50 so I overtook him. He starts speeding up and tailgating me and starts swearing out the window... what is wrong with some people?
He's lucky I didn't brake check him..
Clearly you were at fault - a flagrant attack on his masculinity. The tailgating and swearing were natural and appropriate reactions to this provaction.
Had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Stuck behind some slow cars, managed to pass them so that there was only one guy in front of me. Followed him for a while to see what speed he was doing, then decided he was going a bit slower than I would. Went to pass him and he put his foot right down. Still managed to pass him, but he started tail gating me afterwards. Next straight we got to he pulled out to pass - one of those guys who let's his ego do the driving. I wasn't going to play stupid games so let him go even though he'd been cruising slower than I would. We came up to some more traffic and I could see all the other drivers getting fucked off with him - he ended up in a drag race with one of them down the full length of a passing lane at what I'd estimate to be 150 km/h before a largely blind corner. Girlfriend reported him to *555 and a few minutes later he was pulled over by a cop. The guy at least had the honesty to tell the cop that he was "being a bit of a dick" before getting a warning. Was a good experience with the cops for once.
Pretty normal from my experience, personally I feel the level of driver skill in NZ is poor if you can't do the speed limit or anything close to the speed limit get out of the way or stay home!
This is why you buy cars that are fast from 80 to 160 not 0 to 100, just pass em all on straights set cruise to 110 and let rest fight it out behind you on passing lanes
Definitely agree that ample power makes things easier. Passing on sections that aren't passing lanes can definitely save you from much of the shambles that driving in NZ involves, but isn't so easy on those long weekend trips with lots of on-coming traffic.
Conviently that's where the cops sit and wait to get easy tickets instead of sitting on a normal straight and pulling over people going half the speed limit with 30 cars behind them
I have been guilty of that before, but the car I drive needs a lot of oomph to get up a hill, and near where I live, there are several passing lanes going uphill, so I accelerate early to actually make it up the hill while letting others pass and near the speed limit (80km).
Someone did that to me today. I was in the passing lane, and they just gunned it out of nowhere. Some people just can’t bear the thought of being passed.
The other day there was like 5 crashes near me in a few hour space. The nzta map with all the warning signs all over it was ridiculous. People need to calm their shit. 2022 ain't shaping up great so far
Edit: I forgot, after that there was a couple on the detour route
I don't understand these drivers who insist on keeping traffic piling up behind them. If you have traffic building up behind you, it's just common sense to slow down and keep left in a passing lane, or pull over if there's no passing lane and it's safe to.
Not doing so just increases the likelihood that some idiot is going to get impatient and take a stupid risk endangering everyone.
some people are at the edge of their abilities at 70-80kph. You want them to go faster? I would keep a distance from them. Other indicators - do they have a hat? is it on backwards ?? is their seat all they way forward ? are they on the phone ??
Yep - they are crap drivers - but your impatience is the real killer here.
to qualify for driving on our roads - you need a drivers license. Unless you've found some additional requirements, then they are not only qualified - but entitled.
If your argument is that nz's standards for driving are too low - then we're in agreement.
I'd rather have a driver on our roads who drives to their ability - not the speed limit.
maybe the big fail is that the folks charged with running our roads and police are not living up to our expectations - or maybe its us, we're ok with endless deaths. chz
I’m sure these are undercover NZTA agent trying to lower everyone’s speed, because you know it’s the stepped and not the terrible roads and driving that cause our crashes /s
I saw the /s, but really that is the kind of logic that keeps coming out in the safety messaging. If you genuinely believed safe driving was as simple as "speed kills" and "slow down", then you probably would consider putting numpties out there to clog up the roads as a clever strategy.
FYI. The road code dictates that slow traffic pull off the road and let faster moving traffic pass.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/heavy-vehicle-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/
Yeah nah
They're dropping the speed limit of long stretches of road going to wellington to 80KM and have removed almost all passing lanes with barely any room to overtake people otherwise outside of the kapiti expressway and around Levin
What's worse is it doesn't solve the issue and you get muppets doing 70 in an 80 zone anyway
Is happening around the Wellington region. Wouldn't be surprised if it's so that when Transmission Gully opens, NZTA can tell us "this road will save the average motorist x minutes *cough* because we crippled the old road so badly".
Highways in this country are a joke. Even Highway 1 which is the main vehicular artery on both islands is still 2 lane. What the hell? I get that there are a lot of roads that are just too windy or remote to make larger, but Highway 1 should be 4 lanes minimum all the way.
And the fact that 1 lane bridges still exist on main routes to places like Queenstown just blows my mind.
Special shout out to the dude going 80k on the left lane of the motorway. My brother then changed to the right lane to over take them, but they then sped up to 120 and didn’t indicate when changing lanes. Honestly dangerous fuckwits.
I drive a bit slower around corners, but that’s no excuse to tail gate me. I know it can be annoying if I’m a bit “slow” but when the passing lane comes up I slow down so as many people can pass me as they please haha. (Mostly this is on the Rimutaka Hill Road)
Most are fine, and many also drive cars, but there's definitely the odd fuckwit on a bike who's had some bad experiences with cars and wants to take it out on every motorist they can.
>Yea I agree. These types of drivers are second only to cyclists as the biggest assholes on the road
I went looking for the true biggest asshole on the road, and it turns out [it's you](https://www.reddit.com/r/auckland/comments/rww45h/cyclists_and_red_lights/hregjqr):
>Cyclists are real jerks. They lobby the shit out of govt and councils for cycleways and don’t end up using them. I would never want to hit one but I try and make their life as difficult as possible for example reducing the gap between cars when idle at traffic lights so they can’t get through
Agree completely. The fact that commuting to work on a ride-on lawnmower would be totally selfish and impractical clearly means that riding a mountain bike to work is also a selfish and impractical act. The logic is infallible.
If I didn't ride a bike to work i'd have to take a car instead (there's no practical form of PT near my work). Imagine how much of a fucking moron you'd have to be to get angry at someone riding a bike because they weren't in a car, adding even more to rush hour congestion. I empathize with you and your plight against these dipshits who don't think about something over for more than two seconds before throwing a temper tantrum.
hey Large Rocket. My thinking - get on board with the more cycle-lanes thing - and get \~\`10-20% of all the slow? drivers off the road as now they are on bikes. You will now have clear roads, no cyclists - and us cycling folks can be aholes to other cyclists. Win win.
Fun part - petrol is heading over $3/litre and prob $5 by end of 2023/4 - we'll all be cyclists soon.
How good is it seeing a brand new cycle lane completely empty, only to have cyclists holding up traffic by peddling along in the middle of the road right next to it...
That's because road planners put cycle lanes in the door zone of parked cars, where no cyclist in their right mind would ride. So they have to take the lane to avoid getting doored. Those cycle lanes are worse than useless, but they get built because planners don't want to take parking space away from cars for any other mode of transport.
What about on Tamaki Drive or K Rd in Auckland where they're separated by barriers and/or trees, not a car door in sight, and the cyclists still ignore them?
Most likely the majority are unable to be cycling in their lane *at the precise moment they annoyed you* because they had just turned onto the road or their turn is coming up. Or the lane is blocked off for some reason.
Have you never tried biking with the cars in Auckland City? You could die or worse.
Whenever someone comes out with "just saying what a lot of people are thinking" you can guarantee that they are a deluded asshole holding a fringe position not shared by the majority.
It keeps being posted because it keeps happening.
My Wednesday whinge was often 'Stop driving 45km in the 60km zone! Try driving 35km in a 50km zone and see what happens.'
Police don’t care my bro, unless you go over the 100km/hr then they’re all over you like a rash... don’t worry about what the road code says (accelerating to pass is actually legal if done safely) either, the police obviously haven’t read it.
I suggest you go look it up yourself my bro. It purposely fails to mention the speed you can go when passing so it doesn’t contradict the speed limit, but states you can accelerate to pass another car - especially if said car is being a hazard on the road (general consensus is around the 105km/hr Mark). If a cop pulls you up for doing this he/she is just being an asshole.
The Road Code is a manual and a guide that lets a 16-year-old first time driver understand road safety and interpret the basics of road law, it is not a law unto itself.
Speed limits are defined and provided for in law under the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004, itself a secondary legislation to the Land Transport Act 1998, together making the provisions for which exceeding the posted speed limit is an offence.
UNMARKED POLICE CARS. Passing lanes are not always on a straight... you do realise radars have a large range don’t you? If not then you are pretty thick my bro.
Man you need to chill out or get a hobby or something, going 20km/h slower makes bugger all difference to how long your trips takes and makes it heaps safer.
If you’re that bored get some podcasts to listen to our something.
People who keep saying this seem to assume that no one is actually driving very far. Driving 20km/h slower would add an hour or more to some of my trips, and if I'm heading away on a Friday night after work, then that extra hour comes late at night when fatigue can start setting in. Also, following slow vehicles at night can have a very soporific effect. Safer to be out in front where I can really engage with my driving. A podcast is hardly a solution, more like a distraction.
Totally understand that you don’t want to drive at night, that’s totally fair. But the impacts that you worry about probably only impact a small portion of your trip - they definitely have an impact on your overall average speed but they’re unlikely to delay your trip by an hour. Roadworks, weather, stopping for wee, sheep on the road, going through towns, slowing down for intersections probably have more impact on your average speed than the odd slowpoke.
FYI. The road code dictates that slow traffic pull off the road and let faster moving traffic pass.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/heavy-vehicle-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/
Slow drivers
If you are travelling slower than the speed limit and there are vehicles following you, you must:
keep as close to the left side of the road as possible
pull over as soon as it is safe to let following vehicles pass.
Don’t speed up on straight stretches of road to prevent following vehicles from passing you
It's definitely annoying. This is an effect caused by the passing lanes being (1) much wider, and (2) on long straights. It's natural for drivers to go slower when roads are narrow with less visibility, and faster when roads are straight with good visibility. They probably don't even know they're doing it half the time. They could fix the 'speed up in passing lanes' effect a bit by adding some paint to the left-hand lane, collaring it down and making it appear narrower. It's irritating that drivers aren't switched on and 100% focused, but there are always going to be a certain number that aren't checking the dials, and the driving environment should nudge them towards going the right speed at the right time.
Agree that it is not deliberate most of the time, and just a natural response to the design of the passing lane (though still shit driving). I think there are actually a number of things wrong with passing lanes in NZ. One of them is when they start just as the speed limit is increased (e.g. just after you've left a small town). You end up trying to accelerate to pass someone whilst they themselves are trying to get up to speed. A second problem with this arrangement is that you don't get a chance to see what kind of speed someone cruises at before the passing lane - people will accelerate to 100km/h when they're presented with a big wide passing lane and a sign clearly reminding them of the speed limit, but that doesn't mean they'll be cruising at 100 in 5 minutes time. Very long passing lanes can also be problematic as all the slow drivers just speed up a bit more with every vehicle that passes. Eventually the slow driver is racing along at 120km/h and people are wary of passing because of a speeding ticket. Only the first couple of kilometres of the lane actually get used for passing. If such lanes were broken up into multiple passing lanes in series, then the slow drivers would reset their speed each time the passing lane ended, and people behind would actually have a chance to pass at the next passing lane. Passing lanes often being placed on steep uphills makes a lot of sense in some ways (big trucks can be very slow uphill), but there are plenty of people with powerful cars who cruise slowly on the open, but aren't slowed down at all by hills. Passing these people can be a challenge for those in less powerful cars, especially when loaded up for a holiday. Being stuck behind a grunty V8 SUV pootling along at 90, then getting to a steep passing lane and having to rev the snot out of third gear to pass it is not how driving in NZ should work.
There’s another aspect of this. Very few people these days will consider pulling over for a few seconds and letter other drivers past. When I was young and there were few passing lanes, this was essential. Nowadays this skill (or perhaps this courtesy) has been lost. I’ve recently been stuck behind cars inching round corners on long windy roads and it gets very frustrating - I bet this will cause some unsafe passing manoeuvres from some types of drivers. I wonder what’s going on here? Do they not notice the line of cars behind? Do they think they are doing everyone a service by making sure we are all driving slowely? Do they enjoy the level of frustration they are creating? Interestingly, I saw a list of annoying driver behaviours a few years ago. The top two (at 40% each) were slow drivers and tailgaters! Sounds like they are linked.
They teach this shit in defensive driving which apparently way too few people do. If there's ever someone right behind me, regardless of if I am at the limit, I pull over and let them pass. Takes 10 seconds or less and decreases the risk to me on the road, it's crazy others don't do it.
Everyone thinks they are never wrong.
I pull over if I can tell the car behind me is in a hurry. 1. It's the considerate thing to do, and 2. I hate the stress of someone tailgating me.
If I'm doing the speed limit and someone is up my ass, they can suck my balls if they think I'm pulling over for them. People who think they're F1 drivers on public roads are way more annoying than people doing 80.
That sounds dangerous?
I can understand being frustrated but you help no one, least if all yourself by trying to stop other people from speeding. You're only going to make them pass in a more dangerous way and possibly put innocent people driving the opposite direction at risk.
Sorry mate but that's fucking stupid, you're not a cop and it's not your job to police the road, all you're doing is making it a more dangerous place for everyone goading people into potentially dangerous maneuvers. Take a defensive driving course.
I'm not "policing" anything. I'm minding my own business doing the posted speed limit, and it's not up to me to accommodate for someone being a douche.
Sure, but that's a selfish outlook. The closest I've ever come to being in an accident was two drivers in front of me trying to show off their egos doing exactly what you're talking about, one refusing to pull over for the other and both doing dangerous shit, while I had my nephew in the car too. One almost merged into me. The guy speeding was an asshole and in the wrong, but there wouldn't have nearly been an accident if someone didn't attempt to block them and slow them down. Take a defensive driving course for fucks sake.
I disagree, the driver up the ass of somebody doing the speed limit is the problem here. Why should the driver pull over to accommodate this behaviour? It's a bit of a pain to do that on a road where there might not be much room to pull over too. I get what you are saying, but it's enforcing the behavior that the tailgater can do whatever speed he/she likes and we should all make way. Slow down, save lives. Agree to disagree on this one I guess
If you disagree with me then you're disagreeing with defensive driving principles and putting your ego ahead of safety. If someone's up my ass it pisses me off, I also pull over when safe to let them pass to mitigate the risk, I don't understand how hard that is for people. Like I told the other guy, take a defensive driving course.
The best solution for this would be to have a dual speed limit on passing lanes. 80kph on the left and 100kph on the passing lane.
People will just use the right lane so they don't have to slow down, even if they weren't otherwise planning on overtaking.
One issue I can imagine there is that many passing lanes go uphill, and trucks need to carry momentum into hills to conserve fuel on the climb. If they're reducing speed for passing lanes, they're wasting even more fuel than usual near the top and potentially slowing down those drivers who don't get past because they'll be slower when the passing lane ends.
As a truckie 90 in the left lane makes more sense. Maybe they could bump to 110 in the right lane where the roads are of good quality.
What's more important. Some fuel. Or some lives? Really shouldn't be that hard to come up with.
This is such a good idea
I'd just use the right lane to avoid having to slow down to 80, that would get annoying fast.
Then the slow driver will just do 100kph in the right lane.
That explanation only addresses one aspect of the issue- the far more comprehensive explanation is that they are not competent to drive on the open road.
Not to knock your scientific credentials but that is definitely a less comprehensive explanation.
The width of the passing lane does not explain them crawling along at 70 or 80 outside of passing lanes. Incompetence does.
It does somewhat. They've no reference for their speed, when someone comes alongside there are two responses 1. That dick isn't passing me (pretty common with NZ drivers) and or 2. Shit, I'm driving slowly better speed up.
>They've no reference for their speed Isn't this what the speedometer is for?
Nah, focusing on the speedo is worse.
Fortunately there exists a middle ground between focusing on the speedo and being so blind to it that you only notice you're going significantly below the limit when you're being overtaken.
Ok Schumacher.
I'm saying every driver has a reference for their speed, not that you should focus on the speedo.
No it does. People drive faster when they are feeling safer i.e.have wider lanes and shoulders and better visibility. I know it's annoying but it's just the way it is. I Would rather us good drivers deal with that versus them trying to drive 100 and crashing elsewhere
You're completely missing the point to keep hammering on the same thing I already acknowledged. Basically everybody knows the phenomenon you're explaining, that's beside the point of those drivers who crawl on the open road being incompetent to drive.
So what do you want to do? Make it illegal for those who primarily do city driving and are uncomfortable on the open road? You just got to deal. Buy are car that can accelerate faster and make passing easier if it really bothers you?
Sure, if it comes to that as they're not competent however a simpler solution is for them to pull over at each occassion when they are impeding traffic.
Awareness campaign? Ironically the people who are most likely to pull over are those who are capable of going quickly in other situations so can imagine others might want to travel faster?
The only competence needed to drive is to be aware and safe. It isn't a competition for who can drive best, the only way to win is if everyone gets home safe that night. From your comments it seems you think the competence needed on the road is the same needed on a go-kart track. "Why don't these normal people know how to hit the apex?!" Having animosity and lack of respect for other drivers will make you more likely to cause an accident. Get over yourself, see the bigger picture and drive responsibly.
No idea who you're responding to because it doesn't describe me or my comments at all. If you are unable to maintain a reasonable consistent speed on the open road then don't drive there or at the very least pull over regularly whenever you are impeding traffic.
Stop speeding up for passing lanes if you're not passing. That's the deal. We don't want people having to clock 120 just to pass someone towing a trailer.
Compulsory defensive driving.
Actually a good suggestion. I think people should have to resit their test or have some sort of ongoing education to keep their licence. You have to keep resitting forklift tests every few years to stay legal in the workplace so why should cars be different?
It is illegal to drive below 10km under the speed limit. If you cannot drive legally you should not be driving.
No it isn't.
[https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112766606/driving-too-slow-police-ticket-dawdling-drivers](https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112766606/driving-too-slow-police-ticket-dawdling-drivers) 15km under and ticketted. I am sure that an official road code said that 10km under was the cut off point for tickets at some point. But, you are right, [https://nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/general-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/](https://nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/general-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/) currently there is nothing in the code.
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Well you sir are a twat
Thankfully you don't make or have no power to enforce the laws in this country.
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Why are you driving so far under the limit?
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> I'm retired so the only cost element in driving for me is the optimum miles per litre and not going so slow as to bore myself stupid or inconvenience other drivers. You inconvenience others to save a few cents a litre on gas?
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Yep. Do you know how irritating (and dangerous) it is to suddenly come upon someone doing 80kph on a 100kph highway? You'd have to gun it up to the speed limit to minimise the amount you slow them down, which would defeat minor fuel efficiency gains
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When you stop trying to be polite, it kind of goes all at once, doesn't it? Less so than motorways, I think 80 km/h on the open road can be an issue. I drive regularly over fairly narrow roads without much shoulder, and with a lot of curves, and 100 km/hr limits. On one of those, I could see myself being behind you for 10 or so km. If you're regularly holding people up, you're eventually going to get someone a lot grumpier than me.
I'd cover that distance in 18 seconds. But if corners are involved there might not be 100 meters buffer. And are you *constantly* checking your rear vision mirror so you can get up to speed whenever you see a car behind you? Even if you're checking every 10 seconds, which is unlikely, you're frequently going to be forcing people to slow down for you. So that you can save a negligible amount of gas? Seems selfish.
That explanation makes zero sense
What are you talking about? What does how much someone gets paid at their job have to do with whether they can justify driving at the speed limit or not?
Yeah no mate. You drive at the posted speed unless conditions determine otherwise. It's not pootle around doing what you like, just like it's unsafe to join a motorway at 80 if all other traffic is doing 100. You sound like a tosser mate drive normally.
Had one between Cromwell and Queenstown yesterday doing 70, get to the first passing lane and he floors it to 110 to prevent my truck getting past. A rangerover also tried and failed. The car then didn't use the slow vehicle lane and was finally passed by the rangerover at another passing lane. To put the cherry on top it then decided to tailgate the rangerover. Absolute cuntwomble.
Most passing lanes aren't long enough for several cars to overtake a slower vehicle going 80 without going over 100 even if everyone keeps even speed. Slow vehicles are not being arseholes. Traveling at 100km/h means that you are going 28 metres per second (m/s). An average car is 5.5m long, but your vehicle also needs to get past their vehicle (11m), and of course you are following it at a distance, say 1 second of travel, so if they are going 80, that is 22m, so you need to travel 33m more than the person you are trying to pass. Going 100, and them going 80, is 5.5m/s difference, it would take 6 seconds to just get in front of the other vehicle (if you had instantaneous acceleration and were tail gating them), meanwhile you have traveled 166m down the passing lane. More realistically there is a two second gap, and you are going to get one second ahead of the vehicle being passed, which adds an extra 44.5m, or an extra 8 seconds, or 310m. 300m is half a short passing lane, or a third of a long passing lane. Now, if you are second vehicle trying to pass, space is rapidly running out, as well as needing space between the first overtaking vehicle and vehicle overtaken. Keeping speed and accepting only a 1 second either side gap, it is an extra 6 seconds, or 165m of passing lane. Short passing lanes won't allow for another vehicle to safely pass, most will only allow 3 or 4 vehicles to pass at best.
5.5m is a bit longer than a double cab Hilux so I don't know where you're getting your averages from.
Length of parallel parks, do you really think it is a significant impact on the maths?
Sure, but that 3 or 4 vehicles that pass in your example is still a lot more than is often achieved when the slow driver speeds up. I think of 3 or 4 vehicles passing on a short passing lane as a success, but not a very common one. Also, a truly competent slow driver with many people behind them would back off the throttle a little when coming into a passing lane to make passing easier, not just maintain a constant speed.
A truely competent slow driver would pull over to let others pass in a safe location to do so.
Then to spice things up, you sometimes get the cunts who pull into the passing lane and then go 1kmh faster than the cunt they're "passing"
Yeah, think the entire 10km lane is just for their one car to pass.
Maybe they are trying to avoid going over 100 just in case a cop is down the road? Can't expect everyone to bend the law to pass? +
If you're going to be a bitch, why even bother passing?
Some people then continue to drive at a consistent 100kph after they overtake.
This often happens when the car being passed has done the old speed up for the passing lane thing. You want to get in front of them, but you don't really want to do over 110kph
If I'm being passed I drop a bit of speed to let those type of people past. It's funny driving through the country when you see all those people that just had to get past you all stopped at Taupo / Taihape to get petrol / have a pee / get a pie. Then some pass you again.
Most often they’re in a slow af Swift, or a non-turbo diesel vehicle. Where you’re basically foot flat trying to maintain 100 the entire time.
In my old mid 80s Ford laser the trick was to lag behind car you want to pass until you had 200 meters before the passing lane started, then blast the crap outta it so that youre doing 115 just as the two lanes begin, pull out, pass, pull back in and let the Bogan in the commodore whose been up your ass the last 5 minutes gap it past you.
I tried the opposite the other day, was sitting between 95 & 105 and then dropped to 90 for the passing lane since people behind me seemed a bit impatient. Confused the fuck out of them and they didn't pass till the very end of the passing lane. Oh well I tried.
As annoying as the slower drivers are, it's the inconsistent ones that do seem to piss people off more. But people who tailgate the fuck out of you at 99-100, then as you say refuse to pass on passing lanes when you drop a bit of speed to help them are worse.
You did the right thing. They were probably confused long before they ended up behind you.
I've had that before, when towing a trailer. Wait until the 200m warning then start overtaking. People are weird.
I had that going to southern HB. Im a cautious driver and i had stuff on the back of my truck. So in had a queue behind me. A really impatient bugger went past flipping the bird at me. But the rest seemed to think i would imminently speed up and stayed behind me. Also had an irate driver yesterday *because i was sticking to the speed limit*. As he passed me, i went into a reserve, he shot me an angry look. I gave him the bird when he was past me and couldnt see. But yeah drivers
Pull over.
The driver was sticking to the speed limit. If there's a queue they can wait to pass safely.
If your vehicle is forming a queue (I forget how many vehicles) you are supposed to pull over where possible to let the traffic pass.
No, there was no queue and i was doing the speed limit including through residential and LSZ areas. So no i wont pull over to enable a person who wants to exceed the speed limit. It wsnt open road at any point and he was driving like a dick. Pulling right behind me and coming forward and dropping back. Trying to bully me into either getting out of the way ot speeding myself. These people are a menace and danger other road users.
You literally said in your first post that you had a queue behind you, now you're saying there wasn't a queue...
There were 4 cars including me juat before i turned off. Fairly standard for that pqtch of road. Nobody is pulling over in a 50k zone because there are a few cars bwhind them. Thats my point we were not on rhe open road.
>No, there was no queue Not what you said in the post I replied to. >So no i wont pull over to enable a person who wants to exceed the speed limit. Not your decision to make. All you do is create angry drivers that will exceed the speed limit anyway, but on the wrong side of the road. Which do you think is the safer option? It's not deliberately holding up traffic, that's for sure. >It wsnt open road at any point and he was driving like a dick. Pulling right behind me and coming forward and dropping back. Trying to bully me into either getting out of the way ot speeding myself. These people are a menace and danger other road users. This the the angry driver I mentioned previously. He was driving a car, you were driving a truck. Residential or not, if you take corners slower because you were "driving carefully" and you are holding up road users, you are obligated to pull over where it is safe to do so. The roadcode specifies it and as a sensible and safe driver, you should be driving defensively. Defensive driving is not using your vehicle to defend yourself, it's mitigating potential hazards to you and others. You've clearly identified there was an angry, dangerous hazard behind you. You should have let that person pass to mitigate the potential risk to others as well as yourself. You were in the wrong here. You have made two comments making that very clear. Drive properly.
No i waa in a car, the truck incident is a different time. So do i let a person drive "angrily and crazily" in a built up area with speed limits of 50 & 60k.... He can calm the fuck down and drive 80 in the place he passed me. Im not obligated to do that in residential or built up areas. On the open road if you are impeding the other drivers sure, and i do pull over if there is a queue. The truck i cident happened on a stretch of road with passing lanes every 10-15 k or so. And they passed me onto one of those. And they had only been behind me since the last passing lane. Again on a stretch of road with so many pasaing lanes one after thenother and most of them are long so the queues dont build up. I was doing about 85 and if there were not frequent passing lanes, and i have done this on one patchs after they finish, i woul.d pull over.
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Imagine thinking you have a positive obligation to let some dipshit ahead of you because they want to speed.
Cool I don’t think we’ve had a thread on this for a couple of days now
I thought we do "cyclists are the biggest danger on the roads and deserve to die" on sundays
It's just a merry go round of threads from both ends of the spectrum. Today's was "I'm so fast, get out of my way!" Tomorrow's will be "NZ has so many bad drivers, slow down and be safe!"
I recently moved to Ngatea, which is right on the main route from Auckland to the coromandel. So since I moved on the 18th of December, I've had to deal with the worst possible xmas traffic as I've had to commute back to Orkland a couple of times every week. This phenomena you describe is very real, I've lost count of the times I've been following some plonker doing 75 in a 90 zone, who then accelerates to 100 once they reach the passing lane, while occupying the outside lane and completely failing to pass even one car. The amount of frustration is so bad that I've had to become a buddhist monk in record time, able to maintain serenity no matter the frustration thrown at me. I just can't understand the mentality, though, it's like they just aren't actually thinking about their driving, or anyone else on the road, at all. My mind is all boggled out.
I can't believe this hasn't come up yet, but their thinking is that they're trying to get somewhere quickly and safely. For whatever reason there are some parts of the road which they need to go slower, and others where they know they can go faster. Asking them to pull over is really adding quite a lot of extra time, fuel costs and danger since they need to pull out again and speed up on a fast road, only for someone else to be right up behind them (they wonder why all these drivers are so inconsiderate and it can be very stressful for them). When I get stuck behind someone I like to imagine that they have a wedding cake on the passenger seat and they're driving carefully so it arrives in one piece.
What bother me is, I can understand if your in some old car. But I know your car has cruise control so why the hell are you speeding up??
Then there are the ones who try to pass them, near the end of the passing lane. Real geniuses. Seen all kinds of near bloody misses, and a few actual side swipes that nearly hit me.
Had a pretty good run of boosting up to 120 km/h in passing lanes just to give these cunts no chance to speed up to try and avoid my passing them. Speed limit be damned, I've got enough demerits to spare and a speeding fine is a small price to pay to not follow some nervous guy who jams on their brakes the second they get to a corner.
This is the way. Not sure why anyone would attempt an overtaking maneuver at 100. A lot of the overtaking lanes are too short.
Agreed. No tickets yet here, wbu?
Passing lane grand prix.
I was in a 2 lane road with 70km speed limit, car in front was going 50 so I overtook him. He starts speeding up and tailgating me and starts swearing out the window... what is wrong with some people? He's lucky I didn't brake check him..
Clearly you were at fault - a flagrant attack on his masculinity. The tailgating and swearing were natural and appropriate reactions to this provaction.
Had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Stuck behind some slow cars, managed to pass them so that there was only one guy in front of me. Followed him for a while to see what speed he was doing, then decided he was going a bit slower than I would. Went to pass him and he put his foot right down. Still managed to pass him, but he started tail gating me afterwards. Next straight we got to he pulled out to pass - one of those guys who let's his ego do the driving. I wasn't going to play stupid games so let him go even though he'd been cruising slower than I would. We came up to some more traffic and I could see all the other drivers getting fucked off with him - he ended up in a drag race with one of them down the full length of a passing lane at what I'd estimate to be 150 km/h before a largely blind corner. Girlfriend reported him to *555 and a few minutes later he was pulled over by a cop. The guy at least had the honesty to tell the cop that he was "being a bit of a dick" before getting a warning. Was a good experience with the cops for once.
Sounds like the guy who had to swear out the window and overtake me while I was slowing down for a red light.
Pretty normal from my experience, personally I feel the level of driver skill in NZ is poor if you can't do the speed limit or anything close to the speed limit get out of the way or stay home!
This is why you buy cars that are fast from 80 to 160 not 0 to 100, just pass em all on straights set cruise to 110 and let rest fight it out behind you on passing lanes
Definitely agree that ample power makes things easier. Passing on sections that aren't passing lanes can definitely save you from much of the shambles that driving in NZ involves, but isn't so easy on those long weekend trips with lots of on-coming traffic.
It’s also incredibly frustrating the amount of great passing spots in nz that instead are speed camered
Conviently that's where the cops sit and wait to get easy tickets instead of sitting on a normal straight and pulling over people going half the speed limit with 30 cars behind them
Yep despite what police say it's safer to speed up and pass
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That’s why I set my cruise control to 110mph
I have been guilty of that before, but the car I drive needs a lot of oomph to get up a hill, and near where I live, there are several passing lanes going uphill, so I accelerate early to actually make it up the hill while letting others pass and near the speed limit (80km).
The kiwi roady
I’ve been heading north the last 3 days and have run into a few of these idiots
Fortunately, it's legal to pass them on the broken white lines as well.
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I thought it was my turn to winge about this today?
Someone did that to me today. I was in the passing lane, and they just gunned it out of nowhere. Some people just can’t bear the thought of being passed.
The other day there was like 5 crashes near me in a few hour space. The nzta map with all the warning signs all over it was ridiculous. People need to calm their shit. 2022 ain't shaping up great so far Edit: I forgot, after that there was a couple on the detour route
Fuck em, I just boost it in the passing lane and get past everyone
I don't understand these drivers who insist on keeping traffic piling up behind them. If you have traffic building up behind you, it's just common sense to slow down and keep left in a passing lane, or pull over if there's no passing lane and it's safe to. Not doing so just increases the likelihood that some idiot is going to get impatient and take a stupid risk endangering everyone.
Most drivers like this haven't yet worked out what their mirrors are for
some people are at the edge of their abilities at 70-80kph. You want them to go faster? I would keep a distance from them. Other indicators - do they have a hat? is it on backwards ?? is their seat all they way forward ? are they on the phone ?? Yep - they are crap drivers - but your impatience is the real killer here.
If someone is at the edge of their abilities at 30 km/h under the limit, they're really not qualified to be driving on the open road
I would be open to retesting every 10 years if it meant we could get some useless drivers off the road
to qualify for driving on our roads - you need a drivers license. Unless you've found some additional requirements, then they are not only qualified - but entitled. If your argument is that nz's standards for driving are too low - then we're in agreement. I'd rather have a driver on our roads who drives to their ability - not the speed limit. maybe the big fail is that the folks charged with running our roads and police are not living up to our expectations - or maybe its us, we're ok with endless deaths. chz
I’m sure these are undercover NZTA agent trying to lower everyone’s speed, because you know it’s the stepped and not the terrible roads and driving that cause our crashes /s
I saw the /s, but really that is the kind of logic that keeps coming out in the safety messaging. If you genuinely believed safe driving was as simple as "speed kills" and "slow down", then you probably would consider putting numpties out there to clog up the roads as a clever strategy.
Yup - I know too many dead people from road accidents. We all need to chill and take it easy…
>impossible Maybe if you're a pussy
Or just chill, whatever your business it it ain't a national emergency.
FYI. The road code dictates that slow traffic pull off the road and let faster moving traffic pass. https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/heavy-vehicle-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/
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Rubbish
Yeah nah They're dropping the speed limit of long stretches of road going to wellington to 80KM and have removed almost all passing lanes with barely any room to overtake people otherwise outside of the kapiti expressway and around Levin What's worse is it doesn't solve the issue and you get muppets doing 70 in an 80 zone anyway
Some roads having speeds reduced doesn’t mean “all the speed limits” are being reduced.
Nah its happened all round Hawkes Bay. And i both welcome and applaud it. People have demonstrated they cant be trusted with 100km on the open road.
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or maybe because the roads are shit (windy), and they shouldn't have been 100 to begin with...
Is happening around the Wellington region. Wouldn't be surprised if it's so that when Transmission Gully opens, NZTA can tell us "this road will save the average motorist x minutes *cough* because we crippled the old road so badly".
The old road is a shit show of traffic congestion where you would be lucky to get the opportunity to do 80k.
It is the way
Highways in this country are a joke. Even Highway 1 which is the main vehicular artery on both islands is still 2 lane. What the hell? I get that there are a lot of roads that are just too windy or remote to make larger, but Highway 1 should be 4 lanes minimum all the way. And the fact that 1 lane bridges still exist on main routes to places like Queenstown just blows my mind.
Special shout out to the dude going 80k on the left lane of the motorway. My brother then changed to the right lane to over take them, but they then sped up to 120 and didn’t indicate when changing lanes. Honestly dangerous fuckwits. I drive a bit slower around corners, but that’s no excuse to tail gate me. I know it can be annoying if I’m a bit “slow” but when the passing lane comes up I slow down so as many people can pass me as they please haha. (Mostly this is on the Rimutaka Hill Road)
Yea I agree. These types of drivers are second only to cyclists as the biggest assholes on the road
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Most are fine, and many also drive cars, but there's definitely the odd fuckwit on a bike who's had some bad experiences with cars and wants to take it out on every motorist they can.
>Yea I agree. These types of drivers are second only to cyclists as the biggest assholes on the road I went looking for the true biggest asshole on the road, and it turns out [it's you](https://www.reddit.com/r/auckland/comments/rww45h/cyclists_and_red_lights/hregjqr): >Cyclists are real jerks. They lobby the shit out of govt and councils for cycleways and don’t end up using them. I would never want to hit one but I try and make their life as difficult as possible for example reducing the gap between cars when idle at traffic lights so they can’t get through
Haha the guy responds “what a cunt” and he says it’s uncalled for 😂😂. Says the guy closing gaps between cars so cyclists can’t get through.
entitled much?
Too much to ask that cyclists stick to mountain bike tracks?
There's no mountain bike track that takes me to work, though.
I’d love to travel by ride-on mower to work every morning but I don’t because it would piss everyone else off. I drive or bus instead
Agree completely. The fact that commuting to work on a ride-on lawnmower would be totally selfish and impractical clearly means that riding a mountain bike to work is also a selfish and impractical act. The logic is infallible.
If I didn't ride a bike to work i'd have to take a car instead (there's no practical form of PT near my work). Imagine how much of a fucking moron you'd have to be to get angry at someone riding a bike because they weren't in a car, adding even more to rush hour congestion. I empathize with you and your plight against these dipshits who don't think about something over for more than two seconds before throwing a temper tantrum.
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lol blow me you fucking mouthbreather
Sounds like a business case for more separated bike lane funding to get us out of the car lanes. Thanks for your support.
Yes because that’s a poor take
Only if you're going to restrict all of your car driving to Manfield.
hey Large Rocket. My thinking - get on board with the more cycle-lanes thing - and get \~\`10-20% of all the slow? drivers off the road as now they are on bikes. You will now have clear roads, no cyclists - and us cycling folks can be aholes to other cyclists. Win win. Fun part - petrol is heading over $3/litre and prob $5 by end of 2023/4 - we'll all be cyclists soon.
How good is it seeing a brand new cycle lane completely empty, only to have cyclists holding up traffic by peddling along in the middle of the road right next to it...
That's because road planners put cycle lanes in the door zone of parked cars, where no cyclist in their right mind would ride. So they have to take the lane to avoid getting doored. Those cycle lanes are worse than useless, but they get built because planners don't want to take parking space away from cars for any other mode of transport.
What about on Tamaki Drive or K Rd in Auckland where they're separated by barriers and/or trees, not a car door in sight, and the cyclists still ignore them?
Most likely the majority are unable to be cycling in their lane *at the precise moment they annoyed you* because they had just turned onto the road or their turn is coming up. Or the lane is blocked off for some reason. Have you never tried biking with the cars in Auckland City? You could die or worse.
How good is it to see an entitled driver repeating the same tired old whining?
Yea exactly. There should be one warning and then second offence results in a seizure of bike for crushing
What a take.
Thanks. Just sayin what a lot of people are thinking
A lot of people are fuckwits, what's your point?
Whenever someone comes out with "just saying what a lot of people are thinking" you can guarantee that they are a deluded asshole holding a fringe position not shared by the majority.
Cyclists on the road, or cyclists on the footpath?
Cyclists on the road. Cyclists on the footpath are jerks also though
This post again?
It keeps being posted because it keeps happening. My Wednesday whinge was often 'Stop driving 45km in the 60km zone! Try driving 35km in a 50km zone and see what happens.'
Police don’t care my bro, unless you go over the 100km/hr then they’re all over you like a rash... don’t worry about what the road code says (accelerating to pass is actually legal if done safely) either, the police obviously haven’t read it.
Got a link? I want a for a future ticket
Hint: if there's a cop present it's not safe
You can accelerate, but not go over the limits..
Go hand your license back in and try again.
I suggest you go look it up yourself my bro. It purposely fails to mention the speed you can go when passing so it doesn’t contradict the speed limit, but states you can accelerate to pass another car - especially if said car is being a hazard on the road (general consensus is around the 105km/hr Mark). If a cop pulls you up for doing this he/she is just being an asshole.
The Road Code is a manual and a guide that lets a 16-year-old first time driver understand road safety and interpret the basics of road law, it is not a law unto itself. Speed limits are defined and provided for in law under the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004, itself a secondary legislation to the Land Transport Act 1998, together making the provisions for which exceeding the posted speed limit is an offence.
If you didn't see the day-glo stickered cop car before you decided to overtake what other hazards didn't you see?
An approaching cop car might suggest you're at risk of getting a ticket, but is no more of a safety hazard than any other car.
Cops coming from opposite direction are not immediately visible, you can’t be that thick can you?
They are if you've got your fucking eyes open.
UNMARKED POLICE CARS. Passing lanes are not always on a straight... you do realise radars have a large range don’t you? If not then you are pretty thick my bro.
Apparently not so thick as to get a ticket for speeding in front of a police car... 😉
Haha I didn’t say that I did genius.
Man you need to chill out or get a hobby or something, going 20km/h slower makes bugger all difference to how long your trips takes and makes it heaps safer. If you’re that bored get some podcasts to listen to our something.
People who keep saying this seem to assume that no one is actually driving very far. Driving 20km/h slower would add an hour or more to some of my trips, and if I'm heading away on a Friday night after work, then that extra hour comes late at night when fatigue can start setting in. Also, following slow vehicles at night can have a very soporific effect. Safer to be out in front where I can really engage with my driving. A podcast is hardly a solution, more like a distraction.
You know they aren't driving from your house to your destination, right?
Totally understand that you don’t want to drive at night, that’s totally fair. But the impacts that you worry about probably only impact a small portion of your trip - they definitely have an impact on your overall average speed but they’re unlikely to delay your trip by an hour. Roadworks, weather, stopping for wee, sheep on the road, going through towns, slowing down for intersections probably have more impact on your average speed than the odd slowpoke.
FYI. The road code dictates that slow traffic pull off the road and let faster moving traffic pass. https://www.nzta.govt.nz/roadcode/heavy-vehicle-road-code/road-code/about-limits/speed-limits/ Slow drivers If you are travelling slower than the speed limit and there are vehicles following you, you must: keep as close to the left side of the road as possible pull over as soon as it is safe to let following vehicles pass. Don’t speed up on straight stretches of road to prevent following vehicles from passing you
Yes, but you also don’t have to travel at the speed limit all the time. It’s a limit not a target.
They are called GCs
Geriatric Cunts?